I guess I just look at it differently, but there isn’t a hole in my logic.
I always think it’s funny when folks from my neighborhood FB group post videos from their security systems of their cars being broken into simply because they didn’t lock them AND they left valuables in plain sight. They paid all that money for cameras and monitoring, but didn’t take step 1 with security.
But having something stolen from your car is metaphysically different than bits and bytes being copied.
I don’t feel your analogy is relevant.
If someone steals something from my car I don’t have it anymore. If it was my wallet (probably the #1 one thing people complain was stolen from their cars in the FB posts referenced above), I’ve probably lost some cash and now have to spent lots of time getting a new ID, cancelling credit cards, etc.
But if someone copies one of my videos I still have the video in my possession AND I’m not caused any wasted time.
There’s literally no real effect.
I really didn’t lose anything except possibly some intellectual property (but let’s face it, most every topic has free information about it online so there’s usually not much IP in most paid content). What most of us are selling is time so our customers don’t have to gather all the content themselves.
You’re right that those with skills are going to steal anyway and then either refund (ouch) or share online or do both! And if they are sharing it on Black Hat forum sites, etc. you really can’t look at it as a bunch of money lost because none of the people looking for free content on those sites would have paid you anything AND they are not the types of customers you probably want to serve anyway.
So we’re talking about average customers.
At one point I did want all the security I could get for my videos, especially since I have IT security certifications and was a college faculty reviewer for a security textbook.
I totally get what you’re saying.
But for me, I felt that I was treating my average customers like they (or a sub group of them) were thieves and, at least back then, it caused some technical issues for people that weren’t trying to steal anything.
And the ones that did try to copy were just probably doing it to have longer access time to the content or wanted to share with a friend or family member. Personally I don’t mind either of these.
I look at it like people loaning Blu-Rays to each other AND some free marketing. Sure I don’t make any money off of THAT view of my content, but what about the next? If my course was good it’s possible that both will buy my next product. Or they might both chip in together when I release a premium priced product. Or they might not. IDK, but I’m not going to stress about it.
And with that all said, I personally had a mental shift when I took away the security and accepted that some of my average customers were going to share AND the black hat tech-savvy ones would totally do what they do no matter what I did.
My view towards my regular customers changed since I wasn’t thinking they were going to steal from me AND if my stuff got shared on black hat sites it just meant I made great content and it’s kind of an odd compliment.
So that’s why I DO lock my car doors but I only put minimal (http header) or no security on my videos.